Smell this out

Being a bit of a smell fetishist – one of our favourite books is Patrick Susskind’s "Perfume" – we read with flared nostrils the report that a “Nioi-bu” or Smell Club has been launched in Japan.

Their website describes different odours around the world and tells you where they can be found on a map.

The club has registered more than 160 scents around the world, ranging from “steam coming out of a rice cooker” to “used socks in the summer,” and pinpointed their locations on a Google map.

Nearly 200 members, called “smellists,” have joined the Japanese-language only site, said Kayo Matsubara, spokeswoman of its operator, KAYAC Inc.

Users can either click on a balloon on the world map on the website, or use an index to find each scent if they’re not yet on the map.

Some of what they report: “A toasty odor of cow dung” in Fujisawa City, just southwest of Tokyo. In Kamakura, eastern Japan, “cats with halitosis” were suspected to be roaming about.

“All that is missing on the web is a smelling function,” Matsubara said. “That’s our next challenge.”

Not all reports are of stenches, with others including mouth-watering dishes, fresh laundry, greenery and scented soap. From Paris, there is a “scent of verbena soap near a monastery”, and from Thailand’s ancient capital Ayuthaya, a mix of “incense, grass, dirt and wild dogs.”

Kiddie art

A 22-month-old girl's paintings are going on display at a exhibition in Melbourne.

It wasn't planned that way however. Aelita Andre's parents had shown her abstract paintings to an art gallery. Mark Jamieson liked them and decided to include them in the show.

Then, he found out her age. “I was shocked, to be honest, and a little embarassed,” he said. He said that although the gallery liked to support emerging artists, it had not backed someone quite so junior.

Aelita's parents denied trying to mislead the gallery. “The gallery owner didn't ask my age when I applied because I have to present my work, age is age,” the mother said.

Goodbye ASEAN, hello South-east Asia

What's in a brand? Well, not ASEAN obviously, tourism speaking that is.

It appears that ASEAN will now be rebranded South-east Asia because more than 20 years after the ASEAN Tourism Forum was launched, the powers-that-be have concluded that ASEAN is more a political grouping than a consumer brand.

The decision, it appears, was made after an assessment of the ASEAN brand which was then followed by three months of research by the director of the US-supported ASEAN Competitiveness Enhancement (ACE) project, R. J. Gurley, and the former director of PATA and Mekong Tourism Office, Peter Semone.

The chair of the ASEAN Marketing Task Force, Oscar Palabyab, was quoted saying the assessment concluded that ASEAN was not effective as it was recognised as a political grouping.

ACE's Mr Gurley meanwhile said his research found that South-east Asia carried greater weight internationally and was associated with destinations for tourism.

"I even went on search engines and found hundreds of websites promoting South-east Asia on a shoestring. There are also more than 20 guidebooks on South-east Asia, but none on ASEAN," Gurley told TTG Asia Daily.

The ASEAN Tourism Association says it is looking forward to promoting ASEAN under the new Visit South-east Asia branding. Its president, Felix Cruz, said, "It's like a breath of fresh air. We have a third party (ACE) doing a study, which found that outside of ASEAN, no one knows what ASEAN means. It all makes sense to promote the region under a Visit South-east Asia brand.

"The main thing is to just look at the region geographically and touristically in the minds of non-ASEAN people."

But before the rebranding can be done – of course, it needs funding and buy-in from the 10 member countries first – ACE has commissioned former PATA executive, Michael Yates, to conduct a consumer- and trade-based research to determine which are the best markets for South-east Asia to tap.

The Wrap predicts it won’t be smooth sailing for this particular ASEAN, sorry, South-east Asian ship.

Thailand Ministry of Tourism and Sports permanent secretary, Dr Sasithara Pichaichannarong, was quoted saying: "I am not happy with promoting the region under the name South-east Asia as ASEAN is economically-driven but South-east Asia is area-based.

"I still (prefer) sticking to Visit ASEAN Campaign. However, I have given comments to ACE that instead of focusing their action plan on remote markets, they should steer their attention towards regional markets, including Asia, Middle East and Oceania."